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In doing my weekly water quality tests today I noticed that my total harndess (GH) has risen from 25 to 75 ppm. I realize that this is "only" changing the water from very soft to soft, but I wonder what may have caused this change? All other water quality properties are remaining constant: nitrates at 20 ppm, nitrites at 0 ppm, total alkalinity at 0 ppm and pH level of 6.2.

Any ideas?

Thanks!

If you've not changed anything in the tank then you have to look at your water source. Are you using water from a municipal supply or well water?

Hi,
Usually, the increasing hardness is due to some
ornament that has been added to the tank. However,
as Tammy indicated it could also be the city water
supply.

Cities draw from various wells, or from inlets into
a local body of water. Reservours as they drop in
volume, with no increase from rain, etc, go up in
hardness as the minerals concentrate from evaporation.

Rather than draw from the same wells all the time
cities regularly shut down some wells and begin to
draw from others giving each well a "break" and
allowing the aquafer to recharge. Each well, though
generally in the same formation, can have unique
differences.

Cities that draw from rivers and lakes have several
intakes. These are regularly rotated for maintenance
or when the body of water lowers too much through
lack of recharge, they switch out to a deeper one.

Lastly, cities add chemicals in response to the
seasons, increasing things like chlorine, and
chloramine in the spring/summer months to combat
the increased undesirable flora that thrives in
the summer temperatures.

Home wells tend to remain constant, although times
of drought can cause them to lower and even dry up.
The sources for the water in the well are scattered
across hundreds of miles, and percolate (flow through)
various types of rock on its way to your well. With
Drought some of those "channels" dry up and that could
also affect the GH of your water.

Frank


[span class="edited"][Edited by FRANK 2004-07-25 10:25][/span]

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Thanks for the interesting thoughts...

No new ornaments since beginning of June and I use bottled spring water of the same brand every time. Perhaps it is a change in which spring they get it from. Also, I realized that my water testing caught me just at the tail-end of a water change "cycle". Perhaps water evaporation can cause a jump in hardness? Just an idea.